Love is Gentle
by margaretdashwood
Summary: DG and Cain are both falling in love but deny it. Forces of evil threaten to tear the O.Z. apart again but will Cain realize his love for DG and hers for him before it's too late and she is forever torn from him?
1. Chapter One

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own the tv miniseries Tin Man; all the credit to _RHI Entertainment_ and _Sci Fi Channel original pictures_; no copyright infringement intended.

_**Author's Note:**_ This part of the Tin Man fantasy happens about a year after the trouble with the Witch-Possessed-Azkedellia. Enjoy!

* * *

_**~~Love is Gentle~~**_

**_~Chapter One~_**

DG slammed the door behind her so hard that she nearly went back in to apologize, but she didn't. She couldn't. She was afraid she'd scream herself hoarse if she stayed a single hour longer in Central City.

There were days that she wished she were back in Kansas but then she'd remember the plain and dull life she had lived there. No matter how frustrating life in the O.Z. became she would never go back to that. Besides, her duty was here.

Instead of going back to Kansas, DG decided to go to the only place where she knew she would feel peace, have the closest feeling of going home and be left alone; Finaqua.

Jumping over two stairs at a time till she reached the floor where the Royal Family lived, DG rushed to her chambers, grabbed a change of clothes, a cloak and a few other odds and ends then ran back out again. Headed for the Transportation Center she nearly ran into Ambrose, who in her heart would always be known as Glitch, and briefly telling him where she was leaving to she ran off again before he could reply; she'd be far away before he found and told the Queen.

At the Transportation Center she quickly found her favorite horse, a majestic brown stallion named Breeze. Saddling the horse she packed her few scant belongings in the saddlebags then climbed up onto his back. Clicking her tongue and pressing her foot into his flank, they were off.

* * *

Riding over the fields, DG remembered why she used to love riding her motorcycle and now how she loved riding horses. She felt so wild and free as if she were one with the horse and the wind blowing through her hair. Breeze ran swiftly, like the breeze he'd been named for. It only took a couple of hours to reach the Lake Country in which resided Finaqua, DG's childhood home.

DG had traveled through the forest to reach Finaqua instead of by the roads and hearing the familiar sounds of the lake through the trees, she unseated herself from Breeze's back and stepped onto the leaf-carpeted ground. The forest was green and the leaves shone a brilliant green and through the trees DG could see the Lake Finaqua, glistening like diamonds and sapphires.

She softly breathed in the smell of lake water and the natural shrubbery around her. Picking up the front of her riding dress so that it wouldn't trail in any mud, she stepped through the line of trees, fully greeting the view before her. Birds flew above, calling to one another while squirrels in the forest chuckled at one another.

Overwhelmed by the beauty of this place, DG could only smile contentedly. There the gazebo stood with the wooden swing hanging where it always had, the safe haven where her mother had held her when she was scared. Walking towards it and closer to the water's edge she remembered the days spent here with her mother and sister. After first coming to the O.Z., DG had hardly been able to remember a single thing from her magical past but now after a year, she knew everything. With her memories no longer shielded by her mother's magic DG was able to recall past experiences; such as losing her first tooth, climbing trees with Azkadellia, waiting indoors on rainy days and playing pretend games of spectacular adventures and always her mother's presence close by keeping a mother's watchful eye on them.

Each moment spent in Finaqua was like paradise; as long as there were no princessing lessons and suitors nagging on her every second of the day.

A quick wind suddenly picked up her hair and the light folds of her ginger colored dress almost as if it wished to whisk her away from all her cares and worries. Lifting her arms up above her head she twirled and danced on the lake's edge, her boot-clad feet splashing into small waves as she ran around now laughing and dancing to no real music other than the quiet and soothing noises of nature.

Eventually when she began to feel tired from her ride and from running and dancing on the shoreline her feet found their way to the swing. She sat down, her hands grasping the yellowed ropes as the beautifully carved wooden swing creaked beneath her sudden weight. Swinging in rhythm to the waves, DG closed her eyes, breathing softly her mind fading slowly into the world around her.

DG was beginning to fall in and out of sleep, the peace of Finaqua affecting her natural awareness so that at first she didn't notice the sound of boots crushing twigs at the edge of the trees. It wasn't until the muffled sound of footfalls in the sand began to approach her that her eyes flashed open, her mind and body becoming totally alert. Standing up from her perch on the swing and spinning to face the intruder so quickly that she would have been dizzy had not the adrenaline already been pumping through her veins, she gasped. There he stood, unchanged from the months that had passed by since she had last seen him, Wyatt Cain.

A silent flutter like butterflies moved in her stomach, which DG tried to ignore and blamed on the fact that Cain had surprised her. She was sure she'd be just as giddy inside if it were any of her other friends, like Glitch or Raw.

His face looked like it was having a hard time deciding to either scowl or grin when suddenly he laughed, the laugh of his mellow voice.

"I'm not _that_ terrifying am I?" he asked in response to the look of scared surprise she still wore on her face. He chuckled. A smile quickly flashed across her face as she ran across the wooden boards of the gazebo to throw her arms around him in a hug. His arms encircled her securely but carefully so as not to crush her.

"I've missed you," she said unashamedly in a way that two close friends who hadn't seen each other in seven months would have, "but mostly your wonderful sense of humor." she added sarcastically.

"Someone has to make sure you don't fall into anything and cause a raucous kid." He gruffly replied with a grin.

"In case you don't know how to count, I'm twenty-one annuals old and hardly a kid. Sheesh I defeated a time-old witch! That hardly qualifies me to be a _kid_." She smiled at him teasingly.

"Compared to me, you'll always be a kid." He grabbed her in another bear hug, patting her back in a near-father-like way.

_I wish I could be more than that to you._ Her mind thought absently and without her encouragement. She quickly brushed the idea away, refusing to believe that she might have hidden feelings for the Tin Man. Right now that was one thing that _could not_ happen.


	2. Chapter Two

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own the TV miniseries Tin Man; all the credit to _RHI Entertainment_ and _Sci Fi Channel original pictures_; no copyright infringement intended.

**_~Chapter Two~_**

During the reign of Azkedellia when she was possessed by the witch, the Palace of Finaqua with it's shining white walls and graceful azure blue parapets had been hidden. The Queen of the O.Z had shielded it with what magic remained to her until the day when DG would discover the skipping stone and the message left for her there. With the witch destroyed, the lakeside palace was put back into use and there DG often found peace.

This was not the first time she had up and left Central City for the quiet shores of Finaqua but she had never left so suddenly or so angrily. She fidgeted with her meal at dinnertime and when sitting out on a sitting-room balcony with Cain she became lost in her thoughts.

Cain knew something was wrong; DG never hid her emotions well. Her facial expression and eyes said that she was angry and hurt, and her silence was beginning to worry him. When finally, after asking her the same question about her studies at the Central City Palace for the third time and getting the same blank response of a slight shrug, Cain gave it up. Standing, he walked to where she sat, her hands dead still in her lap and her eyes distant. Standing before her he put his hands on her shoulders and shook her as if out of a trance.

"DG, you should get some rest. You're tired from your ride and you hardly ate anything at dinner. Go get some sleep." She nodded, coming out of her trance momentarily to smile at him faintly and walk ghostlike to her bedroom chambers.

_She was so happy when I came . . . what made her so angry and then so resigned?_ After her warm greeting to Cain she had literally flip-flopped in her emotions. She'd been bubbling one second and then suddenly after mentioning that fact that the palace had some important visitors she was too angry to continue. Then she had become silent. _Who were the visitors?_

Cain followed DG to her room until she closed the door behind herself. Cain walked on to the chamber beside it, entering the bedroom that he himself would use for the night.

* * *

DG closed her eyes and was instantly asleep.

_She knew that she was dreaming. She had to be . . . but then who was the lady?_

_At the foot of DG's bed stood a cloaked figure, only recognizable as a woman because of her slim figure. Her eyes glowed yellow like a cat's, at least the right eye did; the other was a darker shade - deep amber. Her face was shadowed but her blood-red lips nearly glowed as they pulled into a smirk, a grin that foretold evil on its own._

_She began to speak but it was not the voice of a woman she heard; at least . . . it didn't _sound_ like a woman . . . it was more like the creaking of rusty hinges and fingernails on slate, an old voice not befitting the young body before DG._

_"Thou art strong . . . strong . . . yes very strong but inexperienced. My kindred are old and powerful and are tired of resting . . . . Soon we shall tear from you all that you love! Soon . . . we will _curse_ the name Gale; soon we will bring more terror upon the O.Z. than there ever was during your own _sister's _so-called-reign . . ." her voice faded out as a torrent of wind burst through the window revealing a storming world beyond it. DG could hear screams, desperate calls for her help; she heard as children called out her name and then screaming in pain begging her to save them. Tears began to pour down DG's face, her face soon becoming raw from the salt-water._

_"NO!" she screamed at the woman still standing there, "No! Stop it!" DG threw herself at the cloaked woman, trying to scratch her eyes out, hit her, stop her, _anything!

_Then she was fading away. She heard the calls of Cain then amidst the screams still calling to her . . . she heard his voice, always comforting but still calling her name . . ._

_But she couldn't leave the children and her people to die! NO! she couldn't! She must make the woman with the yellow and amber eyes to stop!_

"DG!"

_DG could hear Cain calling to her but he was so far away! She'd never be able to save him!_

"DG wake up!" suddenly the window to her room was shut, the wind and storm was gone, the voices calling to her were only there in her mind, burned in a place that she would forever hear them calling to her. The woman was gone and she felt a comforting and familiar embrace around her. She opened her eyes groggily still unsure of where and what was going on.

* * *

Cain heard DG's screams clearly through the walls. Throwing the bedclothes off of himself he charged out of his room and into hers without a thought only to find her cringing on the floor screaming about the voices and telling someone to stop it. He only paused for a millisecond before charging to her side and taking her in his arms.

She began to scream at him then, trying to scratch his face, punching him wherever she could reach. Cain tried to shake her awake but she was too absorbed by the nightmare. He held her close to him, continuing to call to her, to comfort her out of the nightmare.

* * *

"DG, _please_ wake up . . ." she heard Cain speaking softly to her almost not believing that he really was there, he had saved her. No, he hadn't. The voices still called to her even as she lie there awake in his arms wrapped awkwardly around her. She turned his face towards his and blinked at him sighing, seeing that he really was there.

She looked at him in his pin-striped shirt and tan-colored pants he always wore. She must not have been asleep for very long for him only to have had time to take off his vest and shoes and unbutton only the top few buttons on his shirt. She smiled a scared smile up at him, the woman's purely evil gaze still stuck in her thoughts. She faintly took note of the fact that his eyes looked a little bright as if with tears but the wetness was quickly blinked away and DG was sure she had imagined it. She was safe for the present and that was all that mattered. Cain always happened to be where she needed him most.

"Cain . . ." DG whispered, her voice hoarse from screaming at the yellow and amber eyed woman, "you saved me." she smiled tiredly up at him as she faded into sleep again, exhausted.

* * *

As he lay her limp body back underneath her covers on her bed he heard her whisper his name, barely audible, then ". . . you saved me" almost as if she were unsure he was really there beside her. He was about to turn away and go back to his room, her last words making his heart beat twice as hard within his chest when she added " . . . you always do . . ." and with that she was completely asleep; leaving a confused and worried Wyatt Cain to wait for the morning and an explanation.


	3. Chapter Three

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own the TV miniseries _Tin Man_; all the credit to _RHI Entertainment_ and _Sci Fi Channel original pictures_; no copyright infringement intended.

_**Author's Note:**_ Sorry if the love story between Cain and DG is slow in coming out, it _is_ coming though. Just be patient with me - I'm unwinding the skein of yarn . . .

**_~Chapter Three~_**

DG's eyes fluttered open when a maid, sneaking in to put her change of clothes at the foot of her bed opened her door. DG kept her eyes shut pretending to still be asleep. The maid went about her business, finding DG a pair of shoes and other necessities for when she finally 'awoke' and opening the windows in her room to let the fresh morning air as well as the sunlight in.

The door latch clicked shut and DG quickly opened her eyes wide, not wishing to remember the nightmare. The events of the night were still fresh on her mind, the voices of her future citizens desperate even after the hours she had gotten of fitful sleep. The voices echoed in her mind as if it were a stone quarry. A chill climbed up her spine even as the room began to warm by the double sun's rays.

Swinging her feet over the edge of her bed, she stood and walked towards the open windows. No sign of the wreckage from her dream, no sign of the dying people, and no sign of the woman. DG let a sigh escape her. She didn't know whether what the woman had said to her was real or whether it was just an imagining of her mind but for now, she was free of it. _Free, that is, until darkness falls again,_ DG thought gloomily.

A gentle knock sounded on the door and she heard Cain's voice call her name.

"Come in Cain," she called smiling a slow smile, remembering the part of her dream when he had saved her. _Or was that a dream? I can't remember . . ._ she turned toward the door as it opened revealing a rather distressed looking man.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked, his voice gentle. She looked at him and remembered his voice calling to her, and then just as quickly she heard the other voices screaming for her and a tear trembled down her cheek unwillingly. In ten brusque steps he was by her side, holding her to himself as she let the tears fall. She sobbed quietly into his shirt as he softly shushed her as any father would, awkwardly patting her back not knowing what to do at present.

Finally the tears stopped coming and DG looked up into her favorite Tin Man's stoic face. A tingle in her stomach quickly made her realize that she was still in his arms and she quickly pulled away. _I can't encourage those feelings . . . I only love him as a brother or father, nothing more._ DG forced the tingle to be still.

Cain felt as DG pulled away and as she did he felt an emptiness, almost as if for the few seconds when he held her he was complete. But he refused the feeling, he was almost old enough to be her father for one thing and she obviously did not have these same moments that he did. And she was bound by her duty to her kingdom, to reign alongside her sister Azkedellia after their parents gave them the throne. She was too high above him, she was a princess and he was simply a tin man, an officer of the law.

* * *

"May I ask you a philosophical question Cain?" DG stood in the gardens of Finaqua, surrounded by a rainbow of tulips and white daffodils. She wore a light cotton dress, colored teal and with an empire-waist with a skirt that reached down to the ground where the edges were sprinkled with loose dirt and dampened from the morning dew. Her sleeves were loose but still short so as not to restrict her constant movement.

"Yes, of course DG," he turned to her from where he was feeding a little fawn, the young deer skittish but otherwise unafraid.

"If you were a prince or any type of man with power and your land was experiencing a famine, then would you create a law that would force your subjects to pool their resources and then divide it equally or would you leave them to help one another as need be?" Her light blue eyes stared at him as he pondered her question and then prepared to answer her.

"I suppose I would do the latter of the two."

"But why?"

He chuckled then continued, "because like it or not, DG, people shouldn't be forced to be charitable. Most farmers can't read or write but they know right from wrong. If you force someone to do something good it ceases to be so, and they know it only they probably wouldn't explain it in so many words. They'd probably just say it feels wrong." DG nodded at his answer.

"But what if people were dying?" she asked him softly.

"Well . . . are they dying because they're too lazy to work with the land or truly cannot get enough for their families no matter how hard they work?" DG smiled almost shyly at him, his wise response hardly taking her by surprise.

"Mother and Father should make you an ambassador or put you somewhere where you'd be of use. There's hardly any crime now in Central City with the Long Coats either dead or captured and we have more than enough Tin Men. Even the time you spend here with me supposedly 'guarding' me from potential evil is wasted." She babbled then laughed at his grimace, she'd figured out that her parents had sent him to follow and watch after her, even if she didn't know that it had been his idea.

"Is my time wasted? Last time I checked there have been what . . . four assassination attempts on your life?" he grumbled.

"Instead of saving my life though, next time at the palace could you give saving my sanity a shot? I cannot be_lieve_ how many lessons and tutors and instructors I have. You'd think they'd give me something at least a little bit more exciting to look forward but NO! I have to worry about upsetting haughty spoiled rich mama's boys who think they want to marry me!" Cain realized after she began yelling that this might be why she'd been acting so strangely recently. He put the pieces of her puzzle together quickly, figuring that a prince or some other type of high-born aristocrat had come and proposed, her parents had been pleased but obviously DG hadn't been. _She also probably got in trouble for insulting the man too._ Cain smiled inwardly at the thought. After breathing deeply a couple of times, trying to get her feelings under control she continued. "Now I'm having the craziest dreams . . . " DG was mumbling, a confused and scared look on her face, "it was so lifelike . . ."

Cain stood and walked towards her, cupping her chin in his hand and raising it so that she could look straight into his eyes. "I think it's time you tell me about your nightmare last night." Tears began to fall again as she nodded her head. They sat on a near bye stone bench as she related to him every detail of the night.

* * *

Cain truly was always there when she needed him. If only he could get rid of the one true horror in her life.

DG never truly lost her temper easily. There were occasions but they were rare; and there was really no other explanation for her running away other than the one that Cain had guessed.

_Why is it my life never seems to get_ less_ complicated only more?_ Her mind wandered constantly between the fact that she had to be married before she could become a queen and the strange dreams that had increasingly begun to haunt her. This hadn't been the first of such dreams though it had been the worst. Then there were her strange reactions to Cain . . . _Why can't I just place all my troubles into a neat little box and then _burn_ it? Why can't I just forget Cain for one day?_

And without any prompting, her inner self replied. _Because you are falling in love . . ._


	4. Chapter Four

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own the TV miniseries _Tin Man_ all the credit to _RHI Entertainment_ and _Sci Fi Channel original pictures_; no copyright infringement intended.

_**~Chapter Four~**_

Cain kept denying to himself what his heart seemed to be telling him. After recalling the dream for him, DG had continued on to tell him how a prince from a far off land had come to propose to her and how his parents were there to see that it all went through. But DG had taken one look at his freshly polished shoes, tailored outfit and his hair with every strand in the exact spot so as to frame his face and looking into his eyes she had told him; "No."

DG told Cain how she figured that it was probably the first time someone had ever said 'no' to him and what his response had been. The prince had gone off playing the hurt lover even though she'd hardly known him for fifteen minutes then switched tactics; he tried the "we must keep the royal lineage pure" line, stating that if she married him, their children would start on the path of becoming true blue-bloods, seeing as DG's family had started with only a young girl from Kansas and her father wasn't 'pure-blooded' either. Cain shuddered. DG told Cain that (after insulting the prince and his fancy appearance) she had charged out of there, leaving Central City for Finaqua.

Cain had only been informed that she had run off after being upset about a new aspect of her life she would have to learn to get used to. _DG will have to get used to finicky princes? Why? Do the Queen and King really want to marry her off so quickly?_ Cain felt as if a rock had dropped in his stomach, weighing down his heart as well.

_Why should it matter to me that she has suitors? She's just a friend, young enough to even be my daughter! Besides . . . she sees me like a father-figure, a protector; nothing else._ Cain tried to convince himself that the light-hearted feeling he had whenever DG stepped close to him or hugged him or laughed with him was _only_ random nerves. _And what about Adora?_ Whenever Cain asked himself that, he knew then that nothing could be happening between he and DG, because Cain, deep in his heart still loved Adora and until he died as well he knew there was no way he would ever be able to erase that.

The garden where they had been talking for nearly two hours was beautiful in the spring light that shone down from the two suns above. DG continued to sit on the stone bench but Cain abruptly stood when he realized where his thoughts were going. He'd been sitting so close to DG that he nearly . . . _never mind, no._

Cain shook his head, hardly believing that he'd nearly kissed her. He couldn't imagine the horror and betrayal that surely would have revealed itself on her face. If he fell in love with DG she might never be able to consider him a friend again, and there was always the fact of Jeb and the memory of Adora; he couldn't give them up after having lost them for so long. Jeb wouldn't understand either, he'd been almost bitter when they were reunited and the rift that had come from their separation still lingered somewhat. _But that doesn't matter one bit because I'm not falling in love with her. She's simply one of the best, kindest and most wonderful people I've ever met. And that is it._

There would be no need to tell Jeb anything, because there was nothing to tell. Cain suddenly remembered the princess was still sitting on the bench and realized she'd been watching him the whole time he'd been debating with his feelings; trying to cover up his silence without seeming to be embarrassed, Cain spoke to her.

"It's getting a little warmer out here, let's go grab some drinks and then sit somewhere more shaded." and after she agreed they were off.

* * *

DG was startled when Cain suddenly stood up. He gently shook his head as if trying to clear it from dozing off but then he began to slowly pace as if thinking hard about something.

_He seems so intent._ She wondered whether she should speak to him or to wait till he talked to her and decided on the last of the two ideas, not wanting to disturb his train of thought. She could ask him later.

DG watched him, watched the muscles in his face work and the distinctive way in which he walked. When DG was little she had always wondered what it was like to be in love. She'd watched her parents (not knowing at the time that they weren't quite human) and decided that she wanted more than that. Of course they were in love (if not programmed to be so . . .) but it was almost a distant feeling. DG wanted something deeper than that, more precious, more caring and less . . . mundane. _I wonder if I do love Cain. He's so much older than myself . . . but I guess it's not as bad as Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester_(DG's favorite characters from her favorite book - Jane Eyre)_ who were nearly twenty years apart but they still fell in love and got married . . . but we don't live a novelist life, those kinds of things don't happen in the real world._ Again she could hear her inner self saying that she didn't live in the real world anymore and that there was a glimmer of hope for herself and Wyatt Cain.

But DG couldn't, she simply could not let herself fall in love with him. He would never feel the same way about her, he would never forget about Adora, _And I don't want him to._ Then there was Jeb. Jeb would never accept DG and would never forgive Cain even if Cain did end caring more deeply for her the same way she did for him. It was all just too much.

Cain stopped pacing and began chatting about the heat of the day and then offered to take her to get something to drink and find somewhere shady to sit. DG nodded her head, extremely curious as to what he'd been thinking about.

"What were you thinking about just now?" she asked him as they began walking down a stone paved path. He looked at her surprised and then thought a moment before answering.

"If it was meant for you to know just yet then I would have been thinking it out loud to you." He grinned at her, hoping he didn't sound mean and that she didn't notice that he was trying to evade the question.

"Surely you can tell me what's bothering you, can't you?"

"What makes you think something is bothering me?" he smiled up at her again.

"Well," she thought, "you had that look on your face that you put up when you're trying to hide something, _as if_ something was bothering you."

"Well princess, it was nothing really. I was thinking about Jeb." _Near the end at least . . ._

"Oh." DG realized that he wanted to change the subject, she also figured that wasn't quite all that he had been thinking about but she decided to stop bothering him and began to change the subject. "How was Jeb when you left him?"

Cain was thankful that she didn't pry further, for he didn't know what to tell her without lying other than the truth and he hated to lie to her. But he suspected that she knew there was more underneath his answer. _How would I ever explain to her that I think I'm falling in love again?_

* * *

DG and Cain sat beneath an oak tree that seemed to be nearly fifty feet tall. She'd look up into its ancient branches and get lost just trying to see where they ended. She tried to keep her thoughts in check and away from the fact that Cain was sitting only a foot-and-a-half away from her, his closeness almost tangible. _What am I going to do? I can't fall in love with a cop!_


End file.
